HERE WE GO!
Woah, what a few months we’ve had in this country huh? The COVID 19 pandemic, has more or less brought life as we know it to a screeching halt. Thousands upon thousands of people have lost their lives, millions have lost their jobs and possibly their livelihoods. We wear masks now. We distance.
The pandemic wasn’t enough though. We continue to fight wars against enemies far worse than a virus, we have seen racism rear its ugly head again recently in this country. These last few weeks we have seen what true evil is, and we continue to protest and bring to light the ugliness and hatred people of color have to deal with.
This blog isn’t about that. If you’ve clicked on this, you already know this is about sports. I am writing this and you are reading this for a well deserved, much needed, distraction from the world we are living in today. So let’s talk sports!
I have had people tell me for years, that I should start a sports blog. I suppose it took a global pandemic, a shutdown of life as we know it, complete boredom, and losing all of my beloved sports for me to get off my ass and actually start one. This blog is going to be for me. I am going to talk about sports and teams that I follow and love (or hate). I am going to talk about current events in the sports world. I will post pictures of events that I attend (at this rate in 2022). I will definitely dive into one of my favorite things about sporting events, which are tailgates and pregames! I will talk about what I want to talk about, and my hope is that you like to read it, and agree or disagree with my points. If you’re looking for statistic-based, well-written articles, check the newspaper or ESPN. This ain’t it. I am a fan and that’s the lens you’ll be getting a view from. Let’s argue, lets debate, let’s share great pregame spots and tailgate scenes, let’s talk sports.
Anyone who knows me knows what a ravid sports fanatic I am. I love the New York Football Giants more than most people love to breathe, the same can be said for the New York Yankees, Rangers, and Knicks (kinda, not really, the Knicks stink). I love Notre Dame Football, I love to watch and root for local college teams (mostly Rutgers) due to personal connections in the Basketball and Football coaching staffs. I just love sports.
Which brings me to my last point. Can. We. Get. Sports. Back. Now….please!
My girlfriend, parents, friends, and a random dude at CVS can attest to the fact that when March Madness was canceled, I genuinely questioned the meaning of life. Maybe it was my annual day bar hopping and watching the Big East Tournament at MSG day getting canceled. Or maybe it was because I watched/attended every Rutgers Basketball game this season and they were about to break a 30 year (woof) NCAA Tournament drought, and wherever they were going so was I. Either way, the cancellation of, in my opinion, the best two to three weeks in sports devastated me.
Then April rolled around and when I should have been at Stans (greatest sports bar on earth, fight me) with a Budlight and a shot of Honey Jack in my hands (not sponsored...yet) ready to spend a sunny Saturday in the bleachers of Yankee Stadium, instead I spent my days inside, and sad.
Listen, I realize there are bigger problems in the world right now, but that’s not why you’re here, that’s not why I’m here. We are here because we love sports, and sports love us back. It loved the city of New Orleans back when the Saints returned after Hurricane Katrina, It loved Boston back when the TD Garden sang our Nation’s anthem at the Bruins game, days after the Marathon Bombing, and It loved Boston days after that when David Ortiz (barf, sorry) told a city full of people who were hurting, “This is our f$%^ing city and nobody is gonna dictate our freedom. It loved my city of New York, after 9/11 when President Bush marched to the mound in the Bronx for a World Series ceremonial first pitch wearing an FDNY sweatshirt. Sending the message to the rest of the world that all the evil in the world cannot break the American Spirit. The leader of the free world stood on the mound in front of 50,000 people, in a bulletproof vest and FDNY apparel and fired a strike right down the middle. Simultaneously uniting a city devastated and grief-stricken. Sports did that. It loved us back.
We need its love today. We may have never needed sports to love us back more than we do right now. We need to judge people by the color of their jersey rather than the color of their skin. We need to be sick to our stomach because our team lost, not with a virus. We need to bring hope to people who feel hopeless, we need to bring people together at a time when literally and figuratively we are so far apart. If nothing else, we as Americans need the distraction. Put it on TV, don’t let fans attend, whatever. Bring. Back. Sports.
Welcome to my blog.